Not As They Seem
by WritingRegardless
Summary: The story of the younger sister of a dancer at Fangtasia who somehow gets tangled up with Eric Northman as she struggles to protect her sister, figure out who can be trusted, and survive. I do not own any of the True Blood characters. Only the OCs.
1. Chapter 1

I groaned as I heard a car door slam from outside my window. My first guess was that my sister Ashley was home and one glance at the clock confirmed that guess. Four in the morning, normally her homecoming didn't wake me up, but I had been drifting in and out of consciousness all night. Once I heard the front door close, I listened for any signs of whether she was going to go to bed or if she would stay up for a while. My computer stole my attention for a moment as it suddenly lit up. My eyes narrowed as I crawled out of bed and over to the desk. 'What is so important that you're online at four in the morning?' I thought to myself as I watched the window that displayed the actions of a man on his own computer. I'd been monitoring his actions for a while now, waiting for something interesting to happen that I could report to the man who had hired me to watch him. He opened up his inbox which held one message…from a blocked email address…something I didn't even know was possible. I watched carefully as he opened up the message and once again, my eyes narrowed. It was a page full of nothing but numbers, in a constant stream. I saved a copy of the message into a secure file and watched his actions for another moment until he turned the computer back off.

A cabinet closing attracted my attention back to Ashley who must be grabbing something to eat before going to bed. Since I'm up, and I rarely see my sister thanks to our schedules, I decided to go check on her. She was wearing a sweat suit and foraging through the cabinets to find something that would strike her fancy. "I made Chicken Pot Pie." I chirped from my spot in the doorway, startling her for a moment before she turned and flashed me her amazing smile. My sister was absolutely gorgeous, even in sweats. Her long luscious caramel colored hair fell in soft waves to her mid back while her light green eyes sparkled even at this late hour. "Thank you so much." Was her soft response as she stepped to the refrigerator, opened it, and leaned down to claim her prize. Her 5' 9" size zero frame moved stiffly, causing me to frown. 'Must have been a rough night.' I thought to myself as I walked over to where she had been a moment ago and grabbed the half gallon of milk pouring myself and her a glass.

Together we sat down at the kitchen table and, after giving her a moment to take a few bites; I asked her how work was. "Oh, it was fine; I had this middle aged housewife in my class today that had some crazy energy." I laughed lightly though I knew she was lying to me. Ever since I came to live with her five years ago, she had told me she was a fitness instructor at the local gym. But I knew she was really a dancer at that vampire bar Fangtasia. I chose not to call her on it though; I didn't tell her the truth about where I was getting my income so it was only fair. Honestly though, I don't think she would have cared if I told her that I was a private investigator. Ever since I had gotten this job three years ago she had been able to quit her other job…doing who knows what…and only do the "training" with some money left over for us to save for a rainy day…or as she says, "For my college fund." Though I don't see myself going to college anytime soon even though I am a high school graduate…early graduate to be exact. "Well, I'm glad it was a good night." I offered her a smile which she returned. "Why are you up so early? Do you open today?" I shrugged, "I wasn't sleeping very well, and actually I have the day off." I had told my sister I was working at this small shop in town where my friend Nancy worked and would vouch for me if she ever went to investigate. Not that she would, my poor sister had a lot going on that I wasn't truly aware of.

I knew she was involved with vampires. How could someone not be when they worked at a vampire bar? Sometimes she came home with bite marks…I was concerned at first, but after following her one night and watching her, willing and unglamoured, engage in actions with a vampire, I realized it was consensual. I have no problem with vampires, as long as my sister comes home every night. I considered bugging her somehow; say with a hidden camera or microphone in her coat. But, she's my sister and even if I had discovered something was going down, divulging the way I learned of what she was doing would only spark conflict over how I invaded her privacy and what not. "What are you going to do today?" she asked with a mouth full of Pot Pie. I shrugged, "Maybe go see a movie or just hang at the coffee shop and read a book." Lie, I was going to do some research that involved another person I was monitoring. This one was more personal than the other and required more…involvement I suppose would be the correct word. "Do you have work tomorrow?" I continued the small talk. She nodded as she gulped down some milk. "Yep, I go in at six to get everything set up." I nodded and grabbed her empty plate before loading it up with another, smaller, helping and sticking it in the microwave for a moment. She flashed me a grateful, tired smile as I set the fresh plate in front of her. "Well, I think I'm going to go to bed." I said stretching as I did so. "Alright, good night sunlight." She said catching my hand and squeezing it, "Good morning moonlight." I responded squeezing hers back before exiting and, after checking to make sure there had been no activity while I had been gone, slipping back into bed for another hour or two at most of sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Like I said, only about an hour. At five forty something, I was once again awake. This time it was because of a phone call. "Mhhommn." Well, it was a logical statement in my mind…"I must have woken you up." I made a noise of affirmation; turns out I fell into a deep sleep in that hour. "Have you found anything?" I had never heard hope sound so hopeless as I did right then. I forced myself to sit up in an attempt to wake myself up further so I could form actual words. "I may, or may not have found something. I'm not trying to be vague, but I won't know for sure if it is or isn't something until today when I can dig a little deeper." There was a pause as I waited patiently for the response, "Contact me if you discover anything concrete please, she may be running out of time." I wanted to tell him he couldn't think like that, that he needed to be optimistic…but knowing that could come around and bite me in the ass if things didn't work out, I kept my mouth shut. "I'll be in touch." Was my response, there was a quiet 'thank you' and then the call was over. I sighed now that I knew he couldn't hear me, it had been two weeks since she'd gone missing, and two weeks since I'd been enlisted by my friend Meekel to find her…I just prayed I wouldn't let him down.

With a renewed sense of urgency I walked to my computer and opened another secure file. It was different from the first one, this one was Meekel's, and unfortunately, it didn't have as much information in it as I would have liked. Mainly it was only information on the missing vamp, Meekel's mate Tula. She had long straight black hair and a slight olive tint to her skin which came from her Greek heritage. I had medical information, background information, and the rundown of her actions on the day she was taken. Someone was trying to force Meekel to cooperate in some sort of plot that was a foot. There was one suspect who I had been monitoring via computer, but turns out not all vamps like new age technology. There was one incident though, and that was the only reason I'd been keeping him monitored. Someone had sent Meekel a video clip. Their voice had be distorted and the room carefully covered to keep the location completely unknown. In the video, the abductor showed Tula suspended by silver chains in the middle of the room. The threat was starvation and, at a point, sunlight exposure if he chose not to cooperate. This is when I was called, Meekel and I have a history. When I was younger, my uncle had picked me up from a friend's (I was in his care due to my parent's alcoholism) when we were hit by someone who was trying to outdrive a cop. The end result was our car going off a bridge and plunging into a frozen river. My uncle died instantly, I unfortunately was to drown, if Meekel had not seen the incident, or had not had a good a heart as he did, I would have died. So there was no question, when he asked, if I would help or not…unfortunately I didn't have much to go on thus far.

I threw on some jeans, a white tanktop, and a blue zip up vest before grabbing my bag(which I took everywhere with me), slipped my laptop into my backpack, and snuck out the door with my boots in hand since wearing them out might disturb Ashley. I grabbed a granola bar on my way out and slipped my boots on the second I was off of wooden floors, including the porch. Now the only question was…where to start. I hopped into my old Jeep and gave it a moment to warm up while I thought about where I would go…the "lead" I had was that I managed to trace the video that Meekel was sent back to a library in a nearby town…so I suppose the most logical thing to do would be to start there. I wasn't happy about the hour long drive, but at least I had started early.

The city I was heading to wasn't small, but it wasn't big either…only about 13,602 people in it. The library was at the West end of the town, the end I would have to go through to get in anyways so it seemed perfect. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out which computer it was sent from…no no, that would be too easy now wouldn't it? But I did have the exact date and time that it was sent, and I'm assuming the library has some sort of security system, even one camera would do. The only tricky part would be finding and accessing the security room…if they had anything aside from a television that streamed live feed from their one camera in the main office.

Once I arrived to the library I ran a hand through my dirty blonde hair as I surveyed the outside. They had two cameras in the parking lot, which covered every parking spot. Good news. Before exiting the car I put my hair up in a bun and covered it all with a bandana…I sort of resembled the women's rights lady…you know… the "We Can Do It." Lady. Also, just to be safe I put in some brown colored contacts. I didn't feel like trying to hide from the cameras, so my lame disguise would have to do. Once I did enter, I found they actually had multiple computer station areas each with their own camera above them. I let out a sigh of relief, they seemed to have a decent system. Now to find the security room…turns out, it's behind the librarian's desk and office, in which were two middle aged ladies who were ranting to each other about…something…not marital problems I guessed judging by their bare ring fingers. I took a stroll around the place, picking up an occasional book trying to avoid looking suspicious while also trying to figure out something that would get them away from the area long enough for me to try to find the tapes.

Luckily for me, I found two boys, around the age of twelve who just screamed mischief. And for ten bucks a piece, they agreed to literally scream for a good ten minutes and give the librarians a chase. The best part? They didn't even ask why. They gave me a ten second head start to the front, and then all hell broke loose. I even flinched at the high pitched screams, and I'm the one who planned the thing! It worked though, the two woman immediately jumped up to restore order giving me the perfect opening to slip into the room. Luckily for me, the door was unlocked. That seemed appropriate though, who would try to break into a public library security room? ….okay, well….besides me.

I sat down in the nearest spinny chair and slipped on my gloves (I'm smart enough to not leave a trail). Thankfully, librarians seem to be organized by nature so they had all previous security tapes logged and organized. Now, to find the correct date, August 13th at one eighteen in the afternoon. I found three tapes for this date, but like I said, they're organized. Each one had time stamps so I pulled the one from noon until five in the afternoon. I glanced up at the current film and noted that the librarians were still chasing the boys, but after a second of deliberation I decided not to risk it and took the disc out of the case, leaving the case, and left, but not before erasing any footage of my being here of course.

I hopped into my car and drove down the road until I found a parking lot where I didn't think I'd be disturbed. Once parked, I pulled out my laptop and slipped the DVD in, tapping my fingers impatiently as I waited for it to load. I suppressed a groan as it loaded with a view of six different screens, all too small for me to be able to make out anyone's face. Thankfully though, it allowed me to enlarge one screen at a time which still made this a tedious task. But I got on with it and fast-forwarded to the precise time. I got lucky on the first computer shot, there was only one person who was on the computer. A middle age looking woman (this town seems full of them) who, thankfully gave me a wonderful, full view of her face which I copy and pasted into a separate document. The next computer station had three visitors using the computers at the same time. I managed to copy two of their faces, but the third had a baseball cap on. I made a note of the time he left the computer and would be sure to check for him in the parking lot. The last station was a busy one, there were seven people at this station. I copied the ones facing me, and waited for the moment the others left making a note of it on my note pad. The next step was to go through the parking lot footage. This part was easier than I'd expected and their license plate numbers would give me access to a bit of their background.

Now that that part was over, I drove around until I found a fast food joint to grab some food in. I ended up at a Wendy's which was fine by me since I loved their chicken sandwiches. As soon as I was about to take the first bite, my laptop beeped notifying me that the background checks were done and that my lunch would have to wait. As one could assume, they all were locals and, after entering their addresses into my GPS I went for a small drive by. When you think of a kidnapper, you'd think of someone who has either a shed or a basement where they could keep their hostage…in this case every person except one had a shed, and after some digging into their blue print (yes, you can find ANYTHING on the internet) it turns out only three have basements.

I finally pulled up to the last house, snapping a quick picture I drove on, encouraged by the crazy rumblings of my stomach. As I devoured my sandwich I took a look into the backgrounds I had. Only two of the "suspects" had previous troubles involving vampires. 'Well that's a bit of a relief' I thought with a smile. I glanced at my watch, seven o'clock, time to head home and get everything sorted so if Meekel wanted to meet tomorrow night I would be prepared. By the time I got home, Ashley had gone off to work so I could do my work without having the guilt of her being in the house with me and not spending time with her….we really need a bonding day soon. But that would have to wait…I had quite a bit of work ahead of me.


	3. Chapter 3

I was awoken by a loud slam from the front door and, in a moment of panic, swept all of my papers and work under my bed which I had been leaning against while I'd been doing my research the night before. There was stomping…stomping and a slam…Ashley did not have a good night. As a sister, it was my obligation to go down and investigate.

I found her in her room, throwing off her sweats and ranting under her breath. Something about a stupid vampire…some skank…I cleared my throat to get her attention before she gave away more than she would probably want me to hear. She looked up with a start, mascara streaks decorating her face. "Oh, hey, did I wake you? I'm sorry…" she said as she tried to wipe away the evidence that something was wrong. "What's the matter?" I said, happy that I was awake enough to form coherent sentences. She sighed and shook her head, leading me to believe she wasn't going to tell me, but after a moment, "Just…I kind of have a thing for my boss and I caught him with one of the other dan—trainers and when I blew up he just…the way he looked at me…like I was nothing….I thought he liked me from the way he looked at me and flirted…" she contained a sob and slipped on a t-shirt. I moved from my spot leaning against the door frame and hugged her tightly, "The worst part is that, in my blow up, I quit. I really need that job Lace…but, I don't want to have to go grovel…" a loud sob erupted from her, startling me for a moment. "When do you go in next?" I asked pulling back to go grab her a tissue. "Tonight…ugh I don't know what to do!" she yelled as she accepted the tissue I brought with a small thanks. I looked at the ground as I thought about her predicament. "Maybe he didn't take it seriously?" I suggested, though it sounded more like a question. She shook her head and sniffed. I was about to offer another suggestion when a knocking at the door alerted us that someone was here.

"Can you answer that?" she mouthed to me as she ran to her bathroom to clean herself up. I sighed and trudged my way to the front door, grinding my teeth as whoever it was knocked again…and louder. I opened the door, leaving the screen door closed and came face to face with a six foot something, blonde haired blue eyed gorgeous vampire. "Yes?" he gave me a once over, suddenly making me wish I slept in pants as opposed to some old Nike athletic shorts and a tank. "May I come in?" his voice almost sent a shudder up my spine, it was so…alluring. "No." His eyebrows raised for a millisecond in shock and he opened his mouth to speak, "What is your business here?" I cut him off. I had good reason to be paranoid of who I let into this house, especially with Ashley here and in such a state. "I'm here to see Ashley." He said and started to lean closer to my eye level staring deeply into mine. "Stop that. I'll go get her." I said, enjoying that I'd made his eyebrows raise twice in one minute of conversation. I closed the door behind me, and locked it, just to be safe, before walking at a normal pace to check on my sister. "There's a gorgeous vampire calling on you." I said with a yawn. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, "Did you invite him in?" I gave her a look, "Am I stupid?" she rolled her eyes and fidgeted with the end of her shirt. "What did he want?" I shrugged and she looked at me like I was the most useless thing on this earth. "I'll go see?" I asked after a moment of staring, and exited once I received a nod of approval.

Upon opening the door, I found the vampire looking much more annoyed than when I left him. "I don't like to be kept waiting." He said lowly, "That makes two of us, so answer my question quickly, what is your business with my sister?" His jaw clenched for a second, I was annoying him further. He held up a white envelope, "Her pay for last week, and she and I need to discuss how she will address me in the future if she has a problem." I felt a bit of relieved now that I knew who this gentleman was, "Ah Mr. Northman it's nice to meet you." I said offering a smile before turning back to face my sister who was hiding in the hallway to her room, she looked just as relieved and nodded for me to invite him in. "I'm not going to invite him in, you come speak with him and do as you like." I said, not trying to hide the fact that she had been listening. "Do you have a problem with vampires little girl?" that voice made my insides feel funny. I turned to him and shook my head, "Not at all, but you are her guest, not mine, thus it seems appropriate that she invite you in." I said stepping back as Ash walked up. "I'm going to make some toast then I'll be out of your way." I said as I walked past her and to the kitchen.

Unfortunately, we were out of bread…thankfully there is a Wal-Mart just down the road. So I walked upstairs and slipped on a sweatshirt and some sneakers while grabbing my wallet and keys before heading back downstairs to find Mr. Northman had been invited in after all. I walked back into the kitchen and grabbed the grocery list off the fridge before heading to the door, but not before I caught the attention of Ashley. "Where on Earth are you going?" she asked just as I had reached the rug in front of the door. I turned on my heel, "Grocery shopping." She gave me a look, "At three thirty in the morning?" I nodded, "Wal-Mart is always open and we don't need produce." She shook her head, "Why do you need groceries at this time?" the vampire seemed bored and slightly irritated at being interrupted, "We need bread." She stared at me, "For toast." Still staring, "And sandwiches." She shook her head, "Can't that wait till daylight?" My turn to shake my head, "I'll be right back Ash." I said before turning and leaving.

Now, I know, that sounds really bad leaving her with a vampire who she'd just been screaming at who said they needed to discuss her behavior. But my sister is a grown woman who frequently deals with this man and could easily get him to leave by revoking his invitation…plus the sexual tension was ridiculous. Once at Wal-Mart, I found my bread and the other assorted items on the list and was in the checkout line before I knew it. I wondered if the vampire would still be there when I got back…but brushed it off not really caring.

Turns out, he was. When I walked into the house I walked in on him…feeding on my sister…awkward. He didn't even stop when I walked in, just gave me this look as he continued. "That better be consensual." I said narrowing my eyes at him. She gave me a thumbs up so I carried on, feeling his eyes on me until I was out of sight. Though I still heard my sister moan at a point while I was making my toast and cringed.

She walked in a moment later with a dreamy smile on her face. Wow. She hugged me and told me to have a good day, "Wait, is he gone?" she nodded, with a slight pout I might add. "Revoke his invitation." She gave me a look, again. "Do it." A sigh before she finally said the magic words that would help me sleep easy tomorrow night. "Have a good sleep." I said flashing her a smile before she walked off, exhausted from work and being drained…guh.


	4. Chapter 4

I stayed up after that, just out of restlessness and went back to the work I had been doing before I'd fallen asleep. The entire page I had copied from the man I was keeping an eye on was numbers. Nothing. But. Numbers. I'd started to decode them, but that was such a tedious task it had caused me to fall asleep earlier. So I decided to go through the internet history of the past day to see if any sites he'd visited seemed noteworthy…they didn't. So it was back to Tula's case. I got up off the floor where I was still sitting and grabbed a binder off my bookshelf along with some dividers I'd picked up at Wal-Mart earlier and began sorting all the information about the potentials into color coordinated folders with the blue prints of their houses, the photos of their houses, their background information (including criminal records for the three that had them) and a five by five photo of each I pulled from their DMV records. Around five, while it was still dark, I called Meekel hoping he was still awake. Of course, he was.

"What do you have?" he asked, not even a hello…"It would be easier to go over in person." There was a pause, "Do you know of the vampire bar Fangtasia?" I frowned, "Yes…" knowing where this was going. "Can you meet me there tonight?" my response was quick, "Not tonight…what about tomorrow night?" I could sense he was wondering whether or not to ask why I couldn't tonight, but decided against it. "Around two, the bar will be emptying out by then." Perfect, Ashley didn't work tomorrow night. We said our goodbyes and hung up. After going through the rest of my subject (yes that is what I am calling him)'s computer activity, I decided to catch what little sleep I could before the sun came up.

Turns out I got a good amount of sleep. I didn't wake up until around one when I got a call from Nancy asking if I wanted to do something today. My answer was yes of course, I needed to take a break from these two projects so I could come back tonight with fresh eyes. After a quick shower I waited until I saw the yellow bug roll up in my drive before walking out to the front porch. Nancy had chocolate brown hair and sparkling brown eyes to match, she was an inch or so taller than me and was "indie" in style, my closest friend I'd attained since I moved here. She flashed me a smile as I stepped onto the dirt drive and jogged to the passenger side to hop in, receiving a quick hug before she started off. "So what are we gonna do on this, one of the rarest of days, your day off?" she laughed and shook her head, "I was thinking a movie then grabbing a bite from Merlotts?" I nodded, "How have things at work been?" She groaned, "Busier than usual, there are two other girls that work there aside from the owner and myself, and they both called in sick this week so I've been having to take their shifts which means I've been opening and closing everyday pretty much." I sent her a sympathetic look, "." She nodded, "But now they both owe me so I bet I could call in the entire week next week and no one could say anything about it." She flashed me a smirk, "Atta girl, work the system!"

We ended up seeing some sort of science fiction film about aliens who disguised themselves as cows and snuck some sort of mind control liquid into their systems by "milking" it so to speak. And as usual, the rugged male lead somehow overcomes all odds to defeat them and save the planet. By the time it was over, two hours later, we were starving. Thankfully, Merlotts was close by and pretty slow so we had no issues getting a table where we were soon approached by the cutest, perkiest southern bell I'd ever seen. "Hey y'all my names Sookie and I'll be your waitress." She flashed a smile at us, "I haven't seen either of you two in here before, passing through?" I smiled at her, "We're from Shreveport, just got out of a movie and would not make it home without eating something." Sookie laughed and nodded, "Well, we'll get you two taken care of right away." She took our drink orders and was back in a flash. "So what are your names?" she asked leaning with one hand on the table. "I'm Nancy, and this is Lacie." Nancy introduced us. "How long have yall been in Shreveport?" something in her eyes, it was so genuine, it reminded me of a friend back in Texas. Those eyes suddenly held a flash of sympathy for a second, "Two years for me." I said holding up the number on my fingers, "My whole life." Nancy said with slight playful exasperation. "Aw, I hear ya girl, I've been here my whole life." Sookie laughed and rolled her eyes. "How do you two know each other then?" Nancy looked at me, "We met at the grocery store." I smiled remembering the day then was pulled from my memories by the look Sookie had as Nancy said this. Her eyes suddenly darted to me as she noticed me notice her.

Sookie took our orders and the food was out almost immediately. After we had our food, Sookie went off to take care of something in the back, insisting we holler for her if we needed anything. "She's such a sweet heart." I commented as she left (no, she's not my "type" it's just been a long time since I met someone so genuinely nice to strangers. Nancy nodded since her mouth was full with the largest bite of hamburger I'd ever seen a gal her size take. "Did you enjoy the movie?" I asked as I took my first bite, moaning in satisfaction of the amazingness. Once again, Nancy nodded in agreement to the question and to my clear satisfaction with this burger. "So, tell me Lacie." I looked up from the most amazing burger I'd ever had in my life to my friend nodding for her to continue, "What exactly are you doing during the day when you're supposedly working at the store?" I offered her a shrug, "Running some errands, going to the library, stuff like that." Well, it wasn't a total lie. "Really, that's it?" I nodded and her eyes narrowed for a second before she shrugged and smiled, probably thinking I hadn't noticed. In an attempt to distract myself, I took a moment to look around the restaurant which was pretty much empty aside for the employees…speaking of which. I tried not to be too obvious about watching, but it looked like Sookie was in a bit of an argument with another girl who was cleaning glasses at the bar. The girl behind the bar tossed some of her long black hair over her shoulder before, what I could only assume was scolding Sookie. I turned back to Nancy before I was noticed by them and flashed my friend a smile.

Sookie was attentive and noticed when we had finished our meal, immediately prancing over to see if we needed anything else before she brought our check and was prompt about taking our cards to check us out. As we strolled out to our car Sookie snuck up behind me and slipped me a piece of paper, without Nancy noticing, and turned back to clean up our table. Deciding to wait until I was in private to look at the contents, I made small talk with Nancy until we finally pulled up to my house and bid each other fair-well.

Even when I was in my house, I didn't open the note until Nancy was out of sight. Paranoid, I know, but I can't help it. As I approached the stairs that led to my room I could hear the shower going off in Ashley's room and decided to head upstairs without saying anything .She was most likely going out with some friends tonight and would stay at one of their houses. Which was perfect. Once I was in my room I flopped onto my bed and took a deep breath to relax for one moment before pulling the, now crinkled, piece of paper out of my back pocket. '_This might not make much sense, but watch out who you surround yourself with. –Sookie'_ After the short message there was a phone number with an additional sentence to inform me that her number was there just in case I needed to contact her…I frowned at the whole thing. I don't know what would make her feel the need to give this to me…but I don't take warnings lightly and quickly pulled out my phone to save her number before placing both the phone and the paper down near my pillow and slipping off my bed to grab my findings out from under my bed where I'd stashed them in a box where I keep a lot of important things. I scanned over all of the information I'd gathered thus far and felt my stomach tighten slightly, it didn't seem like it was enough…how much longer could Tula hold on…

I shook of the negativity and pulled my laptop off the desk and down onto the floor with me going over the activity of the previous day…there was none. I frowned as I searched around to see if it had just been erased…but no. I could see every key stroke, every previously erased and deleted file, even the ones they thought they'd completely wiped out…and there was nothing, and there was always at least an email sent every day. Biting my nail I pulled up the saved document I'd begun to decode, a glance at the clock told me I still had a long time before I needed to take a shower and head to Fangtasia. So, I did the only thing I could do, continued decoding in hopes that it would give me some sort of lead.


	5. Chapter 5

After working my way through almost every line of the document, I closed the laptop and rubbed my temples for a good five minutes before heading off to the shower. The warm water eased all the tension I'd built up leaning over my laptop for four hours. Immediately after stepping out of the shower I was filled with new energy and got ready quickly, leaving my hair down and slightly wavy and deciding to skip the makeup since it was just Meekel. Since the club would be closing by the time I got there, I didn't have to worry about trying to "blend in" to the crowd and settled for slipping on some blue jean pants, a strapless white shirt, and my brown ankle hiking boots. I carefully put my binder into my backpack and headed down the stairs, pausing only for a moment to read Ashley's note to me informing me that she would, in fact, be staying at a friend's house tonight.

I was feeling confident after I'd gotten out of the shower…but as I drove to Fangtasia my stomach started to knot. What if Meekel was expecting me to have her exact location figured out already? Would he be disappointed with how little information I did have? All my wondering made the drive go very quickly, and before I knew it, I was pulling around back of the bar to park my car next to Meekel's….which was empty…which meant he was inside…and the club was not as empty as I think he thought it would be at one fifty seven in the morning. Suddenly, I was underdressed. But, with my head held high, and honestly for the most part not caring, I hopped out of my jeep and strode toward the front entrance. While there were still quite a few cars in the parking lot, there was no line, only a very bored bouncer examining her nails until she decided to acknowledge my presence.

And by acknowledge, I mean a complete twice over of my appearance and a raise of the eyebrows. "Sugar I think you're lost." She drawled in a bored southern voice. "Think again." I said flashing her my I.D which I'd had at the ready. She stared at me for a moment before looking at the I.D for one second before shrugging and letting me in. I suppressed the urge to bolt as there was a group of three, two vampires and one human boy, practically having sex as soon as I entered. I weaved through the crowed desperately trying to avoid any physical contact with anyone in this place. Once I reached the bar I leaned back and surveyed the area trying to find Meekel. He was sitting on top of some sort of dais with another vampire who seated on a throne like chair, Eric Northman. I guess the two knew each other which wouldn't really come as a surprise. Meekel was eight hundred some odd years old and Ashley had told me that Eric was a very old vampire, one thousand years strong by my research. I shrugged around a group of people and made my way through the throngs of leather clad people and finally emerged at the foot of the dais.

"Well well, what do we have here?" I ignored the blonde and focused on Meekel. "How are you?" he shook his head and his dark brown eyes held such sadness behind them I felt my chest get tight. "It is good to see you, though I wish it were under better conditions" he said standing to embrace me. "Hopefully the conditions will be improved in the next couple of days." He nodded though there seemed to be no belief behind it. "Eric has generously allowed us to use his office to go over your findings since the club is busier than would have been anticipated." He turned and bowed his head slightly in a grateful manner. "How kind of him." I said following Meekel's lead and bowing my head slightly. He flashed a smirk at me as I did so causing me to nearly roll my eyes. I was only being so polite because we were in front of his customers. Meekel offered his arm to me and led me through the people and into a hallway before entering a room near the back.

The second the door shut Meekel turned to me, staying silent as I carefully moved everything off of the giant desk and pulled out my binder, setting out each individual folder before placing their contents into separate areas. "What is all this?" I was expecting Meekel's voice, but was caught off guard by a giant near seven foot, blonde who had apparently decided to abandon his public for our meeting. I glanced at Meekel who also had a curious look about him. "I tracked down the email you received to a computer in the library of a nearby town." I paused from my new position on the opposite side of the desk where I'd walked as I'd been speaking. "Now, with that information as well as the precise date and time that it was sent, I went through the security tapes and managed to pull the I.D.s of everyone who was on the computer at the time it was sent." The vampires stared at me, waiting for me to continue. "Then with some face recognition software I designed, I obtained the identities and records of the eleven people who could potentially be the ones." I slid the photos forward keeping their other papers separate. "Then I drove around a bit and took a look at their houses, only three of the "suspects" have basements and one of the basements is light tight." I swallowed, purely out of thirst, not out of nervousness. Eric said something quietly and very quickly, I only had to wonder what he was saying for a moment before the blonde woman who had been checking I.D's outside entered and handed him a water bottle, which he handed to me. I took it with a quick thank you before opening it and taking a few quick gulps before getting back to what I was saying. "Now, every person except one has a shed in their backyards but none of them are light tight." , "How do you know this? There are no blue prints for the sheds." Meekel who hadn't moved from before I placed the papers down suddenly interjected. "I checked, the old fashioned way. There was no light tight technology, and nothing aside for gardening equipment…and in one case, some very disturbing porn." I twitched at the thought of the posters and video collections I'd seen, and caught Eric's smirk out of the corner of my eye. Shocking.

"Well, it's a start." Meekel muttered, eyes pouring over the papers, eyes narrowing as he glanced at the pictures of the people who potentially took his mate from him. I smiled with slight satisfaction, "There is one more thing though which I didn't get a chance to investigate, and I was planning to check it out tonight before the sun comes up." Two sets of eyes watched me carefully as I reached into my bag and pulled out my final blue print, spreading it out on the table on top of all the other papers. "Ted Hankleford owns two acres here in Shreveport on which there is a sort of complex, half of which is underground and, light tight." I saw a flint of hope and anger flash across Meekel's eyes. "Why didn't you investigate it before you came here?" Eric asked me with a raised eyebrow. I rubbed the back of my neck, "Because, the co-owner of the building is a vampire and I didn't think it would go well getting caught snooping around the property…" He stared at me as I drifted off. "Let's go then!" Meekel urged us sounding more than desperate. "No." Meekel and I both stared at him with wide eyes and he opened his mouth to protest but Eric cut him off. "The human and I will go, I am the sheriff of this area so he is under my authority. Plus, you're too emotionally involved to be rational." He crossed his arms in a 'that's final' manner and frankly…I had to agree with his reasoning. Meekel, sensing he had no other options nodded in agreement.

Eric went back out to the bar to speak with the woman who had brought me water earlier, Pam as I could now identify her, leaving Meekel and I alone. "It's going to be okay, if there is a vampire there as the deed states, he answers to Eric right? So he'll have to help us." I offered with a smile. Meekel tried to return it, but was too caught up thinking about his beloved. "I wish I could come and help though…it doesn't feel right staying behind." I touched his shoulder lightly, "I know, but unfortunately the Viking is right, it will be best if you stay behind." He nodded and the door swung open again. "Shall we?" Eric asked me gesturing toward the end of the hall that led away from the crowded bar area. I offered Meekel one more smile before walking out with Eric on my heels. Once we were outside he flashed in front of me looking…slightly angry. "How do you know of my heritage?" I narrowed my eyes at him, "I did my research, do you really think I would let my sister work for someone without finding out about them?" He leaned closer so I didn't have to tilt my head as much, "She said you didn't know she worked here." I nodded, "And that will continue to be her understanding, but shouldn't we be going now? The property is a good thirty minutes away and we need to get you back in bed before sunrise." I said the last part with a baby voice as I pinched his cheek for a moment before he grabbed it in a vice grip. "Don't patronize me." He growled before scooping me up into his arms bridal style and launching into the sky. It's a bird, it's a plane, no! It's Eric fucking Northman!


	6. Chapter 6

I tried to glare at the tall blonde vampire who had deposited me flat on my butt after flying us from Fangtasia to our current location, but my head was swimming so much that it looked like there were three of him. "Never. Again." I said through gritted teeth as I stood and brushed myself off. He scoffed at me muttering something under his breath… I caught the word 'human' but ignored the rest. "Alright, so the vampire who is signed as a co-owner on the deed is Hanson Louden, he's a few years over a hundred, but considering the fact that you're a thousand I'm assuming he won't be much of a problem?" I raised my eyebrow in question, "No one is a problem for me." Was the smug reply as he strode to the door, leaving me standing in the middle of the circular drive. The second his back was turned I moved quietly and quickly around the side of the house. I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking for, but I couldn't just stand there.

I knew, from the blue prints, that there was a door on this side of the house…though I couldn't remember exactly how far back…but my wondering was cut off when I passed right by it and had to make a quick U-turn. Slipping on a glove I tested the doorknob to see if, per chance, it was unlocked. It wasn't, "Can't ever make it easy for me can ya?" I muttered after pulling out my lock picking tools which are always on my person. Paranoid? Yes. But it tends to work in my favor. As quietly and quickly as possible I unlocked the door and slipped inside closing it behind me. I took a second to listen for any sign that Hanson was nearby, but I could hear Eric speaking from somewhere else in the house so I assumed he was preoccupied, and pulled out my phone which had a digital copy of the house's blueprint on it. A groan tried to sneak past my lips as I realized I was on the opposite side as the basement door…then I nearly slapped myself. This was the home of a vampire; I couldn't assume he would only keep Tula in the basement if he was keeping her here.

And so began my search through the five bedrooms, six bathrooms, two living rooms, one study, one kitchen, and one weight room home. Obviously there were some rooms I could skip, but the size of the house and the limited time frame I was given made my hair want to fall out…I do not do well with stress, which seems like it would make me an ill fit in my line of work, but somehow it works. Two bedrooms and a study down and I could hear the two vampires still talking near the door. I hoped Eric knew I was in here and was stalling, but there was no way I could know for sure that he didn't think I was just hiding. I slipped into the third room and quickly checked the closet, under the bed, in the desk drawers, and even tilted a suspiciously out of place looking book on the bookcase in the corner…but there was no indication that she was here…The forth bedroom was completely empty…I mean, no furniture, no moving boxes, nothing. That cut some time off my search. The two rooms left were the basement and the master bedroom. The sound of a door slamming sent a shiver of panic up my spine and I ducked into the nearest room as Hanson yelled something at Eric that I was too wrapped up in hiding to understand.

As I listened carefully to Hanson murmuring to himself while he walked into what I guessed to be the kitchen based on the sound of tile flooring, I caught the sound of something else…something that made my insides churn, deep raspy breathing coming from somewhere behind me. Gathering up my courage I turned and had to hold in a gasp. There was Tula, chained up to a wall with tubes that were connected to a machine stuck in her arms. I'd seen a machine like that before, it was made to drain vampires of their blood…a thought that sent a wave of anger and sadness through me. Her head was down and her normally glossy straight black hair was hanging limply around her head. I ran to her completely forgetting about Hanson for a moment. I'd found her, and she was in pain. I pulled the tubes out of her arm and dropped them to the side. Her head raised slightly, "La-Lacie?" her voice was so soft I thought I'd imagined it, but when I looked up and into her caramel colored eyes I knew I hadn't. "It's okay, I'm going to get you out of here." I mouthed my promise as I stared at the silver chains that bound her to the wall, causing deep burns on her wrists and ankles. My fists clenched in a moment of fierce anger at the vampire who had put her in this place, but they immediately unclenched at the sound of a door slamming from somewhere else in the house, snapping my attention back to the fact that said vampire was still wandering about in the house.

I pulled out my lock picking tools and set to work on the locks on each cuff of the chains, trying to keep myself from freaking out over the burnt flesh I was working over. She hissed lightly as my fingers slipped and the cuff fell back against her skin which had barely started to heal. I murmured an apology and continued my work, feeling and hearing the magical click that signaled her right arm would now be free. She immediately pulled it to her chest, cradling it as it began to heal, while I went to work on the rest of the cuffs.

After only a couple of minutes I was on the last cuff, and suddenly aware of the strange look Tula had in her eye as she watched me carefully. I paused as I held her wrist in my hand wondering if it was such a good idea to free a two hundred year old vampire who had most likely not fed since she'd been taken. As if sensing my inner distress of wanting to free my good friend while fighting with my survival instinct her hand shot out from her chest where it had been healing and touched my upper arm. "Lacie, I am still in control." I could see it in her eyes, she was…but only barely. With a deep breath and a nod I tackled the last cuff, easily unlocking it after the practice of the first three, and taking a few steps back as Tula curled into herself, most likely because it's what her body had wanted to do the entire time she had been in pain. Long moments passed and I breathed as shallowly as possible, trying to be completely silent as she collected herself, and most likely fought the urge to pounce on me for the fluid she so desperately needed.

Slowly her head rose, and she smiled weakly at me, a small light still in her eyes. Just as I returned the smile, I found myself pinned to the wall with her face only inches from mine, fangs extended. "Tula, don't!" I whispered pressing back trying to become one with the wall so she couldn't bite me. "Meekel wouldn't be happy if you did." I continued, trying to reach her through her mate…it didn't really work and she sunk her fangs into my neck seconds later causing me to bite my lip from screaming. Maybe she just needed a little so she'd have the energy to get back was my naïve thought. Tula could remember me in the state she was in, but her instincts told her that her need to survive was greater than whatever bond she and I had. I pushed against her and tried to fight off the feeling of my energy leaving me with every second. The slamming of the basement door was both a relief…and a nightmare as Hanson grabbed and threw Tula to the opposite side of the room. He'd been drawn by the scent of blood…my blood, and now with his fangs extended he leaned forward quickly to take a taste. Right before he could sink his teeth in though, Tula tackled him to the side attempting to protect her prey...wish I could say it was to just keep me safe, but I knew it was just so she could drink me herself.

With a moment of freedom and what energy I had left I bolted for the door, slamming it shut behind me and running to the front of the house. Throwing open the front door I was greeted with a wave of air that renewed my energy as I continued to run…for only about a foot before someone grabbed me by my hair and yanked me backwards so my head slammed into the concrete of the walkway. I saw Tula's face only for a second before she was picked up by the scruff of her neck and tossed away from me like a rag doll. Black dots slowly slipped into my vision as I turned to the scene next to me. There were Tula and Hanson, both crouched in my direction looking ready to attack…but they didn't…their eyes weren't on me. I turned to see what they were looking at and caught sight of a blonde haired, blue eyed giant with his fangs bared right before everything went completely black.


End file.
